Huawei Technologies overtook Panasonic to become the largest international patent applicant in 2014, with 3,442 published filings through the Patent Cooperation Treaty, according to a World Intellectual Property Organization report released on March 19. Qualcomm Inc from the United States ranked second and Chinese company ZTE took third place. The rapid growth of international patent applications showed that IP "moved from the periphery to the center of the global economic system", said WIPO Director-General Francis Gurry.

(Source: China Daily)